Ford F150 - 1st gear being a P.I.T.A.!!

Ok, so everything seems to be wrong with my truck, but the thing that is really bothering me now is the transmission.

Every once and a while 1st gear doesn't want to engage and I'll have to give it a little extra push to get it in there. About 2 days ago, 1st gear didn't engage at all. It wouldn't go in at all.

A co-worker told me about something called a "linkage" and told me to check that because it might be loose or something. My question is... what does the linkage look like and what part/side of the transmission is it located on?

Thanks in advance!

The Linkage would be on the left side of the tranny. Have you hit anything on the road lately? On my '79 F-150 i hit a cat on the highway, and it boucned up and down under the truck and ended up hitting the linkage arm right on the side of the transmission. When I got back home and tried to put the truck in park, it got caught up. I just had to unbend it with pliers and it works fine now.

Sorry, ^^ would be for an automatic tranny. oops..

Well I'm going to get my tranny fluid changed on Friday and maybe they will tell me if something looks wrong on my truck. Maybe the fluid just needs to be changed. I have put about 20K miles on this truck since I got it and I don't know the last time it was changed. Might as well change it. I think I'll have them add that Lucas Tranny stuff in there with it. Maybe they will tell me if there is a leak or if my "linkage" is loose or something. Hopefully! I'll let you all know! Thanks a lot "FordBlue2" you're awesome.

OK, I took my truck to get the tranny fluid changed and they said it was still bright red, and it didn't need to be changed. But while my truck was in the air, the noticed I had a leak in front of my differential. They said it looked like a seal leak. Also, my differential needed fluid, they added a quart and you still couldn't feel it when you stuck your pinky in there... can you mix differential fluids or does it have to be 3 quarts of the same?

I think your truck uses the M50R2 transmission which has an internal linkage. The shifter forks and pins have been known to wear causing hard shifting. Also the plastic plugs near the top have been known to cause leaks. This tranny uses ATF.
As long as you use the same viscosity in the differential to replace what was lost you should be OK. Since you had to add a lot I would try to find and repair the leak and pull the cover to check the gears.
Regards
rikard